3D Audio – The Immersive Experience

What is 3D audio? How does it work? And why are we so excited about it?

Sound’s a powerful marketing tool. Plug your headphones into your mobile when you’re travelling around and you can be instantly transported to magical places. Sound is something we’re very passionate about. We’re experts in the field. Every week, you’ll find one of us sat recording and editing in a sound studio.

Whether it’s being used for radio, video, SoundCloud or Spotify, audio is integral to modern marketing. But it’s often overlooked or treated as an afterthought. 2018 promises to be an exciting year for audio. Especially for binaural stereo. Or as it’s more commonly known – 3D sound. When used well and with discretion, it can take audience engagement to the next level. It’s opening doors to new and fantastic creative ideas. It’s a medium with very big potential!

Using new audio production software, we can create soundscapes that can fully immerse listeners into any situation. We can transport people to any place in the world, and they will feel like they are in the middle of the action.

For example, if we’re advertising a Zoology degree, we can bring the course to life in 3D audio. We can transport listeners to the open plains of Africa or the noisy jungles of South America. For Astronomy, we can send people into space with rockets taking off, comets whizzing by and the sounds of alien life on far-off planets. You get the idea! The possibilities are endless. It’s a new and exciting way to immerse potential students into the world they’re thinking of studying.

To experience the full 3D effect, all listeners need to do is plug their headphones or earphones into their mobile. Most students don’t leave home without them! Basic earphones are fine – they don’t need to be top of the range! Never before has there been so much audio created, streamed and shared by so many audio apps and services. And now, we can make that audio a full 360° experience.

Last year, our sister company, Kalua Studios, produced a radio campaign to promote the brilliant TV series – Planet Earth 2. Played on Radio 2, 6Music and more, the campaign was produced in binaural stereo for very good reasons. The programme is visually immersive. It’s filmed and produced, so viewers feel they are really there, in the thick of the action. And we wanted to do the same with the audio campaign. We wanted to place the listener IN a jungle. And to immerse them in the story, so they felt like a leopard was walking around them. When Sir David Attenborough narrated the script, he asked people to ‘listen very carefully’ as we took them on a journey through the canopies of the Brazilian jungle – just like the TV programme.

So, pop your headphones on. Close your eyes for a few seconds. And let us take you on that journey. Want to know more about 3D audio and how it could work for your university, college or school? Just email gav@waterfall.agency.